Republican Governors Take a Hard Look
At How to Rebuild Party After Big Losses

MIAMI -- Republican governors met here Wednesday and tried to figure out what went wrong in last week's election.

The Republican Governors Association's two-day meeting included some of the party's rising stars and some of the likeliest candidates for the 2012 presidential election. But the main topic of the annual meeting was the party's losses at the presidential, congressional and state levels, and how the party could be rebuilt.

"We have to match our actions with our rhetoric," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, touted early as a vice-presidential contender this year. He said years of excessive spending, and the recent conviction of Alaska GOP Sen. Ted Stevens on seven felony counts for failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts, did little to win over voters.

"Let's be candid, it was a pretty sweeping victory [for the Democrats]. They fired us with cause," said Gov. Jindal, who is 37 years old and the youngest Republican governor in history.

This year was the second political cycle in a row that Republicans experienced a major defeat. They lost the White House, and saw Democrats make broad gains in state capitals and Congress. The governors group was among the hardest hit, with membership falling to 17 from 28 members before the 2006 election.

Amid the gloom were some signs that Republicans haven't completely lost their star power. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, swept in late to a luncheon, causing a stir in the hotel lobby. She will speak to the group Thursday.

At the meeting, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a vice-presidential short-lister this year, rattled off regions of the country where he felt the party is in trouble. He suggested that the defeat of Republican Sen. John Sununu in New Hampshire represented the final rout for the party in New England. He said the party is no longer competitive in the Far West and many Atlantic states, and is losing ground in the Great Lakes region.

"The Republican Party is going to need a lot more than just a comb-over in my opinion," Gov. Pawlenty said. "Ronald Reagan was president a long time ago."

The Minnesota governor said the party could make a comeback when 36 gubernatorial seats are up for grabs in 2010. Currently, a slight majority of those seats are held by Democrats.

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Still, many attendees appeared unsure about how best to regain control of Congress and the White House. Republican pollster Frank Luntz was blunt in his assessment of the 2010 elections, which also include congressional races. "The governors may be OK, but the party is in deep, deep trouble," he said.

In the hallways and bars of the hotel where the meeting was held, two trains of thought appeared to be emerging over the best strategy to pursue.

The first, championed by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, was that Republicans need to broaden their voter base. This summer, Democrats conducted a huge voter-registration drive that helped bring more supporters to the polls in November. Mr. Crist said that, in Florida, a large number of new Democratic voters helped flip a state that in 2004 had solidly backed Republican President George W. Bush. Another factor affecting the Florida race was the party's loss of Latino voters and other key demographic groups, Mr. Crist said.

"You have to be inclusive, you have to work for a big tent," he said. "That's about as obvious as the nose on your face."

Other attendees pushed for a return to conservative roots. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford compared the Republican Party to a corporate brand that has become tarnished. His own tenure has been marked by intraparty struggles. In 2004, the Republican-dominated legislature overrode his veto on more than 100 spending bills.

"I think first find the message, and then stick to the knitting," Gov. Sanford said. He cited results of a recent poll showing that only 17% of voters identified Republicans with cutting taxes for the middle class, and suggested the party isn't implementing its tax-cutting mission.

The latest example of the party abandoning its roots, he said, came in October, when Republicans joined Democrats on Capitol Hill to pass the $700 billion banking rescue bill. Testifying at a recent congressional hearing, Gov. Sanford said he was the only governor there who opposed the bill.

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